Crackers Once Formed Florida's Backbone

Tuesday

Apr 2, 2013 at 11:26 PM

Texas may have the reputation for cowboys, rustlers, roundups and all things cattle, but Texas came late to the game compared with Florida.

By KEVIN BOUFFARDTHE LEDGER

LAKELAND | Texas may have the reputation for cowboys, rustlers, roundups and all things cattle, but Texas came late to the game compared with Florida."Sixty years before Texas had cattle, they came to Florida," said Cary Lightsey, a sixth-generation Lake Wales rancher. "Eight of the 25 largest cattle producers in the United States are in Florida."Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon brought settlers and cattle to Florida during his second voyage to the state, which landed around Charlotte Harbor in 1521. While hostile natives drove those settlers away, killing de Leon, the cattle stayed and eventually became Florida's first successful commercial agricultural sector.By 1700, Florida had an estimated 20,000 head on 34 ranches. In January, Florida had 1.7 million head, the 16th largest cattle state. Polk County stood among the top five cattle counties with about 100,000 head.In the early centuries, because cattle roamed freely around the sparsely populated state, cowmen ("cowboy" was considered an insult) were called "cow hunters" because of their exertions rounding up the herd scattered across the wilderness. They cracked their whips to force the animals in the right direction, thus earning the nickname "crackers.""Crackers have fared none too well at the hands of literature and history. They have suffered ridicule, endured contempt, and perhaps worst all, seen their sacrifices and contributions ignored," wrote James Denham, history professor at Florida Southern College, in a 2006 article. Yet the crackers formed the backbone of the state's population and economy since the late 1800s, he said."Crackers were in the forefront of the Lower Peninsula's first settlers in the decades following the Civil War," Denham said. "Their influences on the economic and social lives of their communities are still apparent."

[ Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-401-6980. Read more on Florida citrus on his Facebook page, Florida Citrus Witness, http://bit.ly/baxWuU. ]